“Who By Fire”, interview with the director Philippe Lesage

February 21, 2024

Philippe Lesage, director, "Who By Fire". A massif and dense film on disenchantment and the pains of growing up.

"Who By Fire", interview with the director Philippe Lesage Angelo Acerbi

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Philippe Lesage‘s “Who By Fire” is one the films included in the Generation14plus section, at the 74th Berlin Film Festival. Continuing to deal with the issues he took on in his previous film, he goes further on with his analysis of the toxicity of adults towards the younger generation, and the egotism and self-reference that grown-ups always perform.

A very dense film

“Who By Fire” is a very dense film, with an important length that Philippe Lesage uses to build up the tension of the plot towards the violent disenchantment of the young protagonist Jeff. The intensity of the film is its strength, and the length is not an issue, once you let yourself flow into the narrative.

Nature is there to show how little men are

Many are the references that Philippe Lesage mentions in our talk, concerning the look and the location of the film. To name one, “Deliverance“, the 1972 John Boorman film, is the most important, as here in “Who By Fire” nature is all around the characters and it is not a welcoming one, it cannot care less about the petty problems of those people. And this is daunting and fascinating.

Plot

Jeff is invited by his friend Max to travel deep into the woods and stay with them at the isolated wilderness lodge of acclaimed film director Blake Cadieux. Jeff has high expectations for the trip: Cadieux is an artist he greatly admires – plus Max’s older sister Aliocha, with whom Jeff is secretly in love, is also coming. The hostile virgin forest and the director’s huge log cabin become the territory where the youthful search for ideals and freedom comes up against the wounded egos of the adults.

Written by: Angelo Acerbi

Guest

Philippe Lesage